Scott says his policies, Legislature's actions are buoying state economy

Friday

Jun 15, 2012 at 6:12 PM

With Florida's unemployment rate falling by 0.1 percent in May, Gov. Rick Scott again said Friday that the state's economy is "on the right track."

By Lloyd DunkelbergerTallahassee bureau

TALLAHASSEE — With Florida's unemployment rate falling 0.1 percentage point in May, Gov. Rick Scott again said Friday that the state's economy is "on the right track."

Scott, who has promised to create 700,000 jobs in seven years, reiterated his previous assertions that his policies and the Republican Legislature's actions are responsible for the positive results.

The state's unemployment rate has dipped 2.3 percentage points since Scott took office in January 2011. The 8.6 percent rate in May represented the state's lowest level since December 2008. However, 794,000 Floridians remain jobless.

"It is clear that the work we have done to lower the cost of doing business in our state by cutting taxes and reducing regulation is giving the private sector the confidence it needs to expand, grow and add jobs," Scott said in a statement.

He said he remains committed to increasing private sector jobs and making Florida the No. 1 state in the nation for businesses.

But Scott's critics pointed to some less positive trends highlighted by the new jobless numbers, including declines in the construction and government sectors.

And an independent analysis of Florida's unemployment rate by the Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research has shown that a good portion of Florida's improving unemployment rate may be attributed to a shrinking workforce.

The report said 75 percent of Florida's improving unemployment rate since last December could be attributed to people dropping out of the workforce. If the workforce numbers had remained the same, the April unemployment rate of 8.7 percent would have actually been 9.6 percent.

The report also showed that Florida has lost 750,000 jobs since the peak employment before the Great Recession. With the continuing growth of the state's prime working-age population, the report estimated it will take the creation of 1 million jobs to put Florida's workforce back to where it was prior to the recession.

"The reduction is a pretty meager decline," Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, who is expected to challenge Scott in his re-election bid in 2014, said of the latest numbers.

Government workers, including teachers and law enforcement employees, have struggled in the recovery.

While nearly 54,000 jobs were created in Florida since May 2011, some 13,000 government workers lost their jobs in that period. Since April, 3,900 public workers lost their jobs.

Scott openly touts the loss of government jobs, keeping a prominent chart in his office that shows the loss of 17,000 government jobs since he took office, while creating 99,600 private-sector jobs.

Rich said Florida's economic numbers would look brighter if those public workers had remained employed.

"There's no question that he has demonized public-sector jobs," Rich said. "Public-sector jobs enable people to work, to feed their families, to pay the mortgage, to provide health care for their children."

In May, Florida led the nation in the loss of construction jobs over the last year — losing 22,000 workers.

Florida was among 30 states that saw a decline in its construction workforce in that period, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. The group attributed some of the job losses to the cutbacks in government spending on roads, schools and other public infrastructure.

The group said the industry would continue to suffer if Congress fails to enact a new federal transportation bill before a June 30 deadline.

"While the economy will have to get a lot better before we see big gains in construction employment, public cuts are not helping the situation," Stephen Sandherr, the association's chief executive, said in a statement. "Passing a highway and transit bill, in particular, would give a needed boost to construction employment."

Construction is not only a critical component in Florida's economy, it also represents some of the higher paying jobs. Florida construction workers earn, on average, $41,000 a year, compared to leisure and hospitality workers, who earn $21,400 a year, but saw their job force grow by 16,000 workers in the last year.

On the plus side, the leading growth sector in Florida over the last year, professional and business sector jobs, earns more than $49,000 a year.

Scott also noted that Florida has outpaced the national economy in the fall of its unemployment rate — 2.3 percentage points versus less than 1 percentage point for the national rate.

However, Florida's 8.6 percent unemployment rate still ranks it among the 10 most unemployed states.

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